A Job-Ready Assessment for Post-Graduate-Level Introductory Biostatistics Courses

• Activity Number: 91 - High Dimensional Data, Causal Inference, Biostats Education, and More
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 9, 2021 : 10:00 AM to 11:50 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences
• Author(s): Darsy Darssan* and Pakhi Sharma and Alexandra Robbins-Hill and Gail Williams
• Companies: The University of Queensland and The University of Queensland and The University of Queensland and The University of Queensland
• Keywords: Authentic assessment; Postgraduate; Biostatistics; Peer evaluation; Classroom to real-world; Presenting to lay audiences

Abstract

Learners enrolled in master level introductory Biostatistics courses include medical doctors, health service researchers, doctor of philosophy candidates, and students in Masters of Public Health or epidemiology programs within medical faculties. Their objectives are usually to learn the fundamentals of Biostatistics to apply basic quantitative methods to their research projects and communicate with biostatisticians in their team. Traditional assessments in biostatistics courses often fail to provide an opportunity for them to evaluate these professional skills. We implemented an assessment with the following four components: (i) exposure to the real world by sourcing a unique dataset, (ii) simultaneous learning and application throughout the course, with loosely defined instructions that mimic real-life challenges, (iii) exchanging feedback with classmates in order to train their cognitive ability to assess the work of others and constructively accept or reject feedback, and (iv) production of a four-minute video presentation for a lay audience to simulate the professional workplace. We tested the assessment on distance mode learning within a flipped-classroom structure.